North Nowra Cambewarra U11 Blues headed down south on the weekend to play the mighty Ulladulla Gold team.  After an hour-long trip in the car, we arrived to find the pitch was already in use.   We rudely muscled our way onto the field, brushing aside those in our way.   No hard feelings we thought, however we had to endure their wrath all day, being aggressively swooped and harassed as those rascal bunch of Plovers were determined to seek revenge on us.

The toss went our way. Our captain courageous, Harry won the toss but could not decide whether to bat or bowl, so the decision was delegated to Jacob the emergency deputy captain who also couldn’t decide.  Jack Walsh piped up with “We’ll field”, so that is exactly what we did.  We fielded.   Thanks Jack for making a decision!

This game was unusual in another way.  It was sugar free. Only 8 of our players took to the field.   Tully and Jacob ran to their fielding positions with their helmets on, but after discussion with the coach, decided to man-up and face their fears of the swooping birds without the head gear.

Now, in the spirit of reporting the absolute truth, I’d have to say we bowled rather waywardly (if that word even exists?).   Some of our players bowled like loose cannons.  Others bowled like they were shooting off their cannons for the first time!   We seemed to spray our balls everywhere, and as a result took very few wickets. Jack Walsh and Alexander perhaps the only bowlers measuring up to their normal standards, bowling tight and conceding few runs.  For everyone else, don’t worry boys.  Even the Australian Cricket team has a bad day (or year, just remember Kim Hughes vs. West Indies without the tears).

Our batting….   The first delivery started with a suicide run from Toby and Harry, which turned into 3 runs due to two over-throws.  Micah and Jacob got bogged down with some awesome bowling from the opposition.  The Gold’s continued their great bowling, making hard work for our next batters – Cameron and Tully.   The game was in the balance when Jack Walsh and Alex came to the crease.   We needed a Michael Bevan moment which Jack Walsh provided, making a gusty top score of 26 (with good support from Alex).  If you don’t know who Michael Bevan is, then you were likely still in nappies or perhaps were nothing more than the twinkle in someone’s eye at this point in history.  In which case, I suggest you consult YouTube, and steer well clear of the comments section!

After the match, everyone remained very, very cool.  We wiped beads of sweat from our brows awaiting the announcement of what would be a close result.  The suspense was unbearable.   Parents were frantically sending SMS messages (and wishing they knew how to twitter).  Speculating, pacing back and forth.   The coach’s reputation was firmly on the line.   Finally, the score was leaked and minutes later officially confirmed. North Nowra Cambewarra Blues scored 9/105 defeating the Ulladulla Golds 5/83.

This last week saw the North Nowra Cambewarra Cricket U11 Blues team take on the Shoalhaven Ex-serviceman’s team on the hallowed turf of the Nowra High School.   A great venue for cricket!   We were lucky enough to play on the furthest pitch away from the car park so everyone’s car remained dent free.

So that brings us to the highlights and the lowlights.  The low point of the match was losing the toss.   So now we have the bad news reported, we can devote the rest of this article to shameless team promotion and over-the-top self-adulation!    We were talking about the toss.   The captain of Ex-servos won the toss and chose to bat first, however he was over-ruled by a higher being, one twice his height, and of the female variety.  Their captain was forced to concede as all good men do.  He agreed to field first, sending us in to bat.

Let us begin by getting one thing straight.   It was champion batting performances from all players of our great club.    The running between the wickets was breathtaking with the entire team piling on runs.  Opening batters Jack Sweet and Jack Walsh putting on 35 runs without loss of wicket.  Harry Evans and Alexander Jelavic followed adding 2 for 22 runs to the scoreboard, then Troy Sweet and Toby Huard pulling off 51 runs, scoring at more than 10 runs an over!    Just for pure entertainment value, a couple of suicide runs were undertaken.  This excited the spectators and gave the other team a fighting chance.   Tully Dennis and Jacob Zerafa scored 29 Runs losing 1 wicket and the wicket keepers Cameron Murray and Micah Edwards scored 17 runs losing only 1 wicket.

North Nowra Cambewarra team then came out to field.    Troy Sweet bowled the stumps down 3 times, Alexander Jelavic took a mark or catch that an AFL player would have been proud to add to his highlight reel.   Jacob Zerafa took a hot catch in the field and Jack Sweet pulled off multiple run-outs, hitting the wickets from square leg.  Harry Evans bowled and fielded very well, saving quite a few runs in the field.   A special mention for the wicket keepers, Cameron and Micah both standing up to our fast bowlers.  Well done boys!  Jack Walsh saved plenty of runs and bowled tightly as he always does.  Tully Dennis chipped in with a wicket, and Toby Huard again was very unlucky not to snare a bag of wickets.

Before we conclude this match summary, you may have noticed that the best bit has been left till last!    Yes, this is a cunning plan that ensures you read the whole article to get the sordid details!  Yes, we haven’t mentioned the final score yet!   North Nowra Cambewarra 6/160 winning to 16/62.    Although the result was decisive, the Shoalhaven Ex-Serviceman’s U11 team played quite well.  They had a few younger players, including a player participating in his first match.   We certainly enjoyed playing the Ex-servos, and look forward to our next meeting with them in a few months.